Over 1,000 Jews from every walk of life—and communities across the world—convened in Miami’s National Doral Hotel for five days filled with 150 talks, workshops, and performances with 50 of the Jewish world’s leading thought leaders, speakers, and entertainers. “I laughed, I cried, and I’m yearning for more,” says Gail Wisner, a participant from Palm Beach, Florida.
For participants like Mrs. Wisner, who joined the retreat with Rabbi Zalman Levitin’s Chabad of Palm Beach, the retreat was a chance to recharge and refocus after a trying year for the Jewish people.
They heard from Sapir Cohen, an October 7th survivor and freed hostage who spent 55 days in Hamas captivity; as well as Natalie Sanandaji, a survivor of the Nova Music Festival; and Rabbi Doron Perez, the executive chairman of the World Mizrachi movement, who lost a son on October 7th. And they strategized a positive path forward with Rabbi Efram Goldberg of the Boca Raton Synagogue, Rabbi Y. Y. Schochet of London’s Mill Hill Synagogue, and Raheli Baratz-Rix of the World Zionist Organization. This, in addition to a packed program featuring 50 presenters, including Rabbis Dovid Bashevkin, Meni Even Israel, Yechiel Krisch, Manis Friedman, YY Jacobson, Pinchas Taylor, Dovid Eliezrie, Leibel Shapiro, and Edward Reichman; along with Rivkah Slonim, Maryashie Deren, Devori Nussbaum, and many more.
Packed with learning and insight, the program nonetheless simmered with laughter, song, and entertainment. The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute and Jewish Educational Media’s new video seminar, How Israel Wins, captivated retreat-goers with a vivid telling of the Rebbe’s view on Israel’s security. Participants enjoyed a live concert with Alex Clare, comedy with Sarge Pickman, and a live cooking show with a Jewish twist. They were also thrilled by a genre-bending theatrical chavrusa session telling the true story of Henry VIII’s question to an Italian yeshiva.
Rabbi Hesh Epstein, the National Jewish Retreat’s chairman, says the program aimed to leave participants with renewed enthusiasm for their Jewish learning, practice, and identity. “These five days open participants’ eyes to what Jewish life can look like,” he says. “We hear so many stories of lives uplifted for good.”
Rabbi Moshe Krasnanski of Montreal’s Chabad of the Town has brought community members to the annual retreat for several years now. “It just gets better,” he says. “Every detail improves year after year, from the presenters to the program; it must give the Rebbe such nachas.”
As the retreat’s staff lowered the banners at the end of the retreat, Rabbi Zalman Levitin was already seeing the impact on his community. “It’s breathed new life and excitement into my community,” he says. “People are fired up about being Jewish—and they’re eager to do more.”
For Gail Wisner, the National Jewish Retreat released a flood of emotions. “There we were, united around our love of G-d and His Torah, around our love of Israel and our love for each other,” she wrote. She said Modeh Ani the following morning—the first time in years. “I’m crystal clear,” she wrote to the rabbi who invited her, “I will spend the rest of my life returning home to my true self—thank you!”
Each year it gets better and better. Thank you to all that work so hard to make it such a success. Every detail is so thought out. From the personalized scarves for when the rooms were cold to the world renowned speakers, JLI Retreat has it all. I can’t wait for the next one!
Beautiful!